Sometimes, baseball teams do crazy things. Like starting a pitcher who is bound to fail.
Michael Wacha hasn't fared well in starts lately. Heck, he hasn't looked good on a pitching mound at all in recent weeks. Yet the St. Louis Cardinals will start him on Friday against the ferocious Los Angeles Angels offense. Mike Trout, Shohei Ohtani, and Albert Pujols among them. It's like throwing a baby animal to the wolves.
Sure, you could say Wacha fared well against the Miami Marlins in a recent start, but at this point, a retired Bob Tewksbury could pitch well against the 2019 Miami team. He's 59 years old, by the way.
Wacha came into the season with moderate hopes, but those have quickly been vanquished by a consistently bad performance. In 11 starts and two relief appearances, Wacha has a 6.00 ERA, 1.73 WHIP, and has allowed 14 home runs in just 60 innings of work. If you think he is going find some rhythm against an American League club, think again. The Angels rank ninth in the Major Leagues in batting average and aren't too shabby in other offensive categories, piling up 110 home runs heading into today's action.
How has Wacha looked lately? Rough is a nice word. He allowed five earned runs in four innings against the New York Mets. Before that he managed 8.1 scoreless innings in a pair outings against the Cincinnati Reds and Marlins, but that looks like a mild hallucinogenic state these days. He allowed six earned runs in a single inning against Philadelphia, six runs in 4.1 innings against Kansas City, and also got clipped by the Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh Pirates in May.
He's a bad bet, but the Cardinals push him out there. I mean, they could start Dakota Hudson on regular rest on Friday, and be completely fine. Adam Wainwright starts tonight, giving the group some cushion. Daniel Ponce de Leon was solid Wednesday night, but he's heading back to Memphis for roster issues, or because it's too tough on Wacha to place him on the Injured List with a mysterious arm injury.
Wacha hasn't been given a contract extension by the Cardinals for one simple reason: he's a decaying baseball stock. He's good only for a certain period of time, either running into injury, fatigue, or under-performance. Every time he gives you hope, it is snatched away. He's a two-pitch reliever trying to be a starter. A 2013 playoff sensation that expired years ago.
He doesn't have an extension, because he's not someone you can credibly rely on for more than the upcoming season. He will be gone at the end of the year, or more likely before August begins. If this is a way to showcase his arm, that's about as good of an idea as telling the hitter what pitch is coming next.
I expect the Angels to hit the bull several times Friday night. I'd love to be wrong, but I just don't see it.
